The Winston Peters superannuation affair has put National's 'no surprises' rules for government ministries and departments in the spotlight. Good, says Ben Thomas: everyone should know just how rotten the policy has become.

Dismayed by the press gallery's failure to interrogate the prime minister's epistemological framework in the Todd Barclay scandal? Undismay yourself: New Zealand's leading craft beer enthusiast and philosopher king Ben Thomas is here.

Labour candidate Rohan Lord announced yesterday that he was withdrawing from the East Coast Bays race, blaming his low placing on the party list and the barrier to progress which is being a white middle class man. So much for party loyalty, writes Ben Thomas.

The government is trumpeting the fact that the Auditor-General's report into the Saudi sheep fiasco did not find its mastermind guilty of criminal corruption. Good for McCully, says Ben Thomas - now let's look at what the report did say about New Zealand's most bizarre ovine scheme.

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